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| Alton Towers Smiler crash: Park closed for weekend | Alton Towers Smiler crash: Park closed for weekend |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Alton Towers will stay closed over the weekend while investigations into a crash which injured 16 people continue, its owner has confirmed. | Alton Towers will stay closed over the weekend while investigations into a crash which injured 16 people continue, its owner has confirmed. |
| Two carriages on the Smiler rollercoaster crashed on Tuesday, seriously injuring four of those on board. | Two carriages on the Smiler rollercoaster crashed on Tuesday, seriously injuring four of those on board. |
| The park has remained closed since the crash. | The park has remained closed since the crash. |
| Owner Merlin Entertainments said it was "working towards" reopening in the next few days. | |
| A spokesman said the park would only reopen after the firm "completed a thorough appraisal of all our safety processes which is ongoing". | |
| The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which is investigating what happened, expect to be on-site all weekend, the BBC understands. | |
| Inspectors have already served a prohibition notice on the ride, stopping its use "until action is taken to deal with the cause of the failure". | |
| Two men and two women suffered serious leg injuries and remain in hospital. | |
| Daniel Thorpe, 27, from Buxton underwent surgery on Thursday, the BBC understands. | |
| Vicky Balch, 19, from Leyland in Lancashire, remains in a "critical condition" in hospital, her lawyer Paul Paxton said. | |
| Joe Pugh, 18, of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and his girlfriend, Leah Washington, 17, were understood to be at University Hospital Coventry. | |
| The crash also prompted Merlin Entertainments to close rollercoasters at two of its other parks for safety checks. | |
| Thorpe Park's flagship Saw rollercoaster, and two rides at Chessington World of Adventures will remain out of action until new protocols have been applied, the firm said. | |
| Paul Burton, from enthusiast group the European Coaster Club told BBC News he was shocked by the crash, as large rides such as the Smiler are subject to "lots of safety checks and safety mechanisms". | |
| "I've never seen anything like it before," he said. | |
| Mr Burton, who rode the Smiler three days before the incident, said there was a one in 24 million risk of "being caught up in this kind of situation". | |
| "This kind of accident is completely unheard of. | |
| "We cannot speculate, but from [the investigation] there will be a diagnosis and from that people can understand what happened." |